After the remoteness and quiet of the castle, with the exception of the Huszars, New York felt like a panic. People, people, people. I had been used to this energy before and even thrived on it. During my stint in London at Hello! I used to just walk the streets soaking up the swirling masses. Different looks, different languages, different faces came by me at a rush and gave me an adrenaline high. This sense of potency came back to me as Harry and I walked a few blocks to lunch.
He’d chosen a smallish restaurant for the quiet and the food. It wasn’t a be-seen place and we had time to catch up on what was planned for the next print edition, who we’d like to focus on over the next couple of weeks and how we were planning to replace Pen. It was clear Harry was a regular, and one of the employees who didn’t know about the vampires. He had close to twenty years in celeb journalism and knew his stuff, so I could see why the Baron had put him in such a trusted place as the New York manager. We may not feature a lot of New York faces but New York is the world class city.
Leaving the office, the car was waiting and it was a replay of last night. The driver escorted me to the apartment, came in and took a seat in the foyer.
“I need some time,” a hint he could leave.
He nodded. “I’ll be ready. I have new orders. I’ll be with you 24/7. The housekeeper has set up a room for me. I will stay out of your way as much as I can.”
OK, this was too much. Again, I was feeling like a prisoner, not just being protected. I wanted to talk to someone about this but Carola was on her way to L.A. and, with the time difference, Pen, Jean-Louis and the Baron were meeting to work on the “little Huszar adventure.” It would have to wait until I get back from the clubs.
This demon’s name turned out to be Paolo and we picked up Harry and headed out. Going out was a cumbersome project. Paolo would have the valet park while he escorted us into the club, then he’d stay at a spot near the door, keeping a sight-line on me. When we were ready to leave, he’d check the car thoroughly before he let us in. I wondered what Harry though of all this undercover, secret spook stuff, but he seemed to take it in stride. Probably this was the way the Baron and the others got around when they were in town.
By midnight, I was tucked up in the comfortable bed in the Baron’s apartment, with Elana in her suite and Paolo next door. I’d picked up the phone to call somebody at the castle and give them a piece of my mind but I didn’t get it dialed before it rang.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Jean-Louis’ voice slid into my ear like warm massage oil.
“Have I given you enough time to get ready for bed?” he asked softly and most of my snitiness evaporated.
“I’m in bed, yes. How the hell do you know?”
“Paolo has orders to call Sandor every time he moves you. We don’t think you’re in as much danger in New York, which is why we wanted you to stop there first. We’re putting a whole new security network together and this is the first time we’ve tried it. From the tone of your voice, I‘d guess it’s working.”
“If you mean that I’m going to be watched al day, every day by demons, yes, I’d say it’s working. And I don’t like it!”
I could hear his sigh. “Stefan and I have been meeting with Sandor for hours over how to make this work, and you’re being difficult. There’s a lot riding on this whole plan. First, it’s to keep you safe. Remember, you’re the bait, or what was the word you used—pal?”
“Not pal, chum. It’s like seeding the water with a lot of bait. It sets up a feeding frenzy.”
“That’s a much better word.” Jean-Louis’ voice verged on laughter. “It’s exactly what we want the Huszars to go into. A feeding frenzy can get the predators to turn on each other or at least get confused about their targets. It would be ideal.”
I couldn’t contain my disgust. “OK, you want me safe so that the violent vampires can go after me. Why does that make me feel like a tethered goat in tiger country? It sure sounds safe to me!”
Jean-Louis’ voice hardened. “Stop it. You know that’s not the only reason I want your safety. But right now, the future of you, me, the Baron, the Kandesky family, SNAP depends on how—if—we can get the Huszars to the talking table. Stefan and I are doing everything we can to avert a war and you have got to help if you want to stay a part of us.”
There was silence. Crap. Had I pulled the hurt teen again? I didn’t mean to, it just slipped out when I thought that he was only looking at me as a pawn in this blood-sucker power struggle. If I kept this up, I wouldn’t be bait any more. I wouldn’t be anything associated with Jean-Louis, SNAP or the vampires. I’d go back to my humdrum life, looking at celebrities from behind the velvet rope, wearing knock-off gowns from a cheap seconds store and yelling, “Over here, over here..”.
Maybe I was overdoing it. I’d never stood behind the velvet rope or had to yell for attention, I’d always been the one behind the scenes, assigning reporters and photographers, contracting with freelancers. I’d had the luxury of choosing what would get published, how it was played, what it would look like, because I wasn’t interested in the excitement and glamour of actually covering something or someone. I had no burning desire to see my name in print—well, other than on the masthead—or my face on camera.
This vampire deal, though...it was giving me pause and opening up worlds of envy and want I never knew I had. Working at SNAP was the top. Just the intro, “This is Maxie Gwenoch from SNAP” was a golden key. People answered my calls, set up and kept appointments, called me with tips, invited me to lunch, dinner, opening nights. I didn’t take many of them up on offers, but they still kept coming and it was heady stuff. I had a career, a place in the sun and the possibilities of love and luxury beyond imagination. And I was insisting on throwing it away with both hands.
I cleared my throat and Jean-Louis was back. “I wasn’t sure you were still there. I can’t figure you out. Stefan and I aren’t sure why the Huszars have focused on you, we just know they have. And this has given us some potential we haven’t had since Matthias did in Felix.”
After a beat he added, “We have something they want and they want it badly enough to expose themselves. We have to take advantage of this exposure; use it as a wedge to break the Huszars apart. They’re bound to fall out over the attempts to kidnap you; they won’t be able to agree on one plan. I think that’s why we saw some inept tries; the attack in the woods was vintage Huszar but the probing and tapping on your window showed some ability to use stealth and cunning. They’ve always gone for brute force and it works; they’ve been around for as long as we have. Now it seems Matthias learned some guile from his Nazi cohorts and is using it in his hunt for you. There may be internal disagreement about the hunt, and we can take advantage of it.”
I understood what he and the Baron were trying to do. It made sense. But I was still the bunny in the trap and it was scary and annoying. I’d been on my own for years, never having to ask permission or tell anyone where I was going. That was the annoying part. The scary part was that I was in danger if somebody didn’t know where I was at all times.
“You’re right, I see why you need to take this tack. I don’t like it; it makes me feel creepy and spied on and...”
“You are spied on,” Jean-Louis was short with me. “Regardless of what we do, the Huszars are watching you. I’m sure they know you’re in New York, but that’s not a place they normally keep any family members; they’re having to hustle to get someone to cover you. We only have a few days breathing room. It’s no secret where our New York offices are, so we have them under constant surveillance. I’m not sure they know where the Baron’s townhouse is, but if they catch you coming out of the office, they follow you and, bam.”
This made me think. The attack in the L.A. garage was frightening and I thought I was a goner when they grabbed me in the woods at the Baron’s castle, but I really didn’t think they’d go after me in New York, wide open with plenty of witnesses.
“Do you know if they would attack duri
ng the day?” My voice was quiet, and Jean-Louis picked up on it.
“We don’t know. It’s not a typical method they’ve used in the past, but members of our family haven’t been their prey before. With the peasants, the villagers and farmers around here, they’ve mostly hunted at night with no witnesses. This is a different game and we need to develop different methods.”
“OK, I’m convinced. Tell me what you want me to do. How should I play this? Should I throw caution away and just make myself available? Should I try to sneak around and not go out after dark? I’ve never been chum before.”
That one got a laugh. “Oh, I imagine you’ve been someone’s chum before,” Jean-Louis chuckled. “I suspect there’re quite a few pals, chums and exes in your past, but I don’t want to know. Anyway, that’s a subject for another conversation, way down the road.
“The best you can do is just keep up your normal schedule. We know that the Huszars don’t yet have the technology to tap our phones or hack into our servers and besides, they only want you and only for ransom. It’s because of your position.”
“Is that all?”
“No, that’s not all. But that discussion is for another time, too. I’ll let you go to sleep now and I know that Paolo is staying with you in the apartment. I’m more comfortable now than I was last night. I’ll call you again, soon. Keep well,” and the phone went dead.
Not even a chance to say good-bye. He’d laid out logical reasons for me being in the eye of the Huszars. He’d told me a bit more about their methods. He’d made me understand the great risks that were involved in “the little Huszar adventure” that he and the Baron so lightly talked about.
And he’d said a couple of things that made me know I wasn’t valuable only because of my position. He was interested in me. If I was going to have that flicker of interest fan into flames, I needed to continue to keep Carola and Pen’s advice uppermost. and do all I could to help the little adventure.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
There was only one incident in New York, and I wasn’t sure it was a Huszar problem.
It came when I left the SNAP offices to catch a breath of fresh air out on the Plaza. As I pushed the elevator button, a man came down the hall toward me. He reached out as though to grab my arm.
I recoiled and shouted, “What are you doing” just as Paolo came through the office door. He pushed me away from the man, took his wrist in a hold, and whipped the arm behind the guy’s back.
“Hey, stop that,” the man cried. “I just saw her come out of SNAP and I wanted to talk to her.”
Paolo gave the arm another tug. “Why’d you choose this way to talk to her? Who sent you?”
“Nobody sent me,” the guy yelled. “Let go! I’m a freelance writer and have a couple of ideas that the magazine might be interested in.”
“It’s alright, Paolo. He didn’t hurt me, but he sure scared me.” I turned to the guy. “Give me your card and stay here with Paolo until I check out your creds.”
“Whoa, I thought you guys may have some security but this is like the Secret Service,” the man said, reaching into a pocket of his jacket. I felt Paolo tense, but the guy just pulled out a card with the name Bob Brascker on it.
“Thanks, I’ll be right back. Next time, just call, or better yet email a query letter. As you can see, our security is pretty tight.” I did a fast Google check and Brascker checked out as a freelancer. I went back and nodded at Paolo.
Brascker grimaced as he rubbed his wrist. “I will. I wasn’t even planning to see you, I was down the hall in another office. As I came out, I saw you leave SNAP so I thought I’d just talk to you. It won’t happen again.” He nodded at me, gave the stink eye to Paolo and headed down the stairwell.
Paolo looked at me. If demons had emotions, an area I hadn’t probed yet, his would be intense disgust. “Jean-Louis called me last night and said that you agreed to 24-hour protection. Then first thing, you wander out of the office without telling me and get accosted.”
“How’d you happen to come out the door?”
“We installed surveillance cameras above the doors and windows,” Paolo gestured to the tiny hole above the doorframe. “We’re putting them at houses and offices where you’re likely to be. I’m trying to stay out of your way when you’re in a place we’ve secured, but I do watch the monitors.”
I did promise Jean-Louis I’d cooperate. Did this mean that I was on some surveillance camera 24/7? Did I have any privacy? For God’s sake, were there cameras in my bathroom?
Paolo watched the questions forming. “No, there are no cameras in the bathrooms. There are no cameras inside the house or the office, only on the entryways. We want to anticipate trouble.”
My need for fresh air evaporated. I went back to my office and waited while Paolo copied a section from the surveillance DVD and sent it to Sandor. “He may be a writer, but he could also be with the Huszars,” the demon grumbled. “They’re crude, but they’re not stupid. They have the money to hire spies. And they don’t all have to be vampires, shape shifters, werewolves. If they paid well enough, guys like him would line up to take a job watching an attractive woman who’s the managing editor of SNAP. You forget, you’re a celebrity, too.”
That was the longest speech the demon ever made to me, an indication I’d pushed him. He was right. I never thought of myself as a celebrity, or anybody special outside of the world of publishing. Today, though, things were muddled. With the constant need for content, all media were on the lookout for people of interest. Add the Huszars into that mix and I had become someone who was watched and needed watching
. So. So, so so...I’d inadvertently messed up on my first day of being good. I swore to myself it would get better.
When the phone rang that night, I was ready with an apology for Jean-Louis. “I know Paolo already told you about my screw-up today,” I began as Jean-Louis said, “Are you going to L.A. tomorrow?”
“I was planning to. Thought I’d catch an afternoon flight.”
“Don’t bother. I’m coming back to the States. The plane will land in Newark about 8 tomorrow night to refuel. I’ll tell Paolo to have you there about then.”
Oh...” I said.
“Well...” I said.
I could lose my temper with him. Get snitty and act out teen angst. Since I realized I was falling in love with him, it was damned hard to carry on a conversation.
I managed, “Good. I’d love to see you,” when he interrupted again. “There’re developments I want to tell you about.”
“There are things I want to ask you, too. Starting with, how come I wasn’t told, let alone asked, about all the surveillance equipment? Did you have guys go into my condo?”
“No, no. I’ll tell you all about that—where we’re headed next—on the plane.”
“Did Paolo send you the clip from the camera today?” I asked.
“He did. No one recognizes the man, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a Huszar hire. Are you alright?”
I wrinkled my nose. “I’m fine. I wouldn’t have thought much about it if it weren’t for Paolo. I’ve had people come up to me before and ask me to read their stuff or introduce them to an editor. It’s part of being a ME.”
“Yep, I know that, and it’ll continue to happen. That’s OK, we just want to make sure we know when you’re being approached and by who. If we can check them out first we can stay in the background and let you be on your own.”
I was glad we weren’t on Skype so he couldn’t see me stick my tongue out before I said, “Thanks. I need to feel as though I can do things on my own.”
“I also want to talk to you about chum,” Jean-Louis’ voice was teasing. “Maybe we’ll play Truth or Dare; we’ll have a few hours to ourselves.”
My vulnerabilities woke up. Five or six hours alone with Jean-Louis was a treat, a time I’d looked forward to. Would I get some of my questions answered? Or would this be another exercise in me learning to rein in my temper and competitiveness. Good, healt
hy competition with him in the business arena benefitted SNAP and added spice to our relationship. I knew he saw me as an equal in the work world and respected my abilities, my brains, my talents. Personally though, I needed to figure out ways to communicate and cooperate.
Any relationship we had, or developed, was overshadowed by a few basic facts.
He was a vampire.
I worked for a company owned by vampires.
He was a high-ranking member of the family I worked for.
His family was involved in a growing dispute with another vampire family.
SNAP: The World Unfolds Page 14